Introduction

This report will discuss the Orb Group’s short term (1-3 years) objectives, which include globalexpansion and recognition. As an organisation we have achieved vast success as we are the largestpromotional merchandise distributor in Scotland. However, we come to a decision of expansion, andwe are going to expand into the United States of America. We found this fitting as the US is adominating country with a lot of power. This as a result will be beneficial to us as an organisation aswe will become globally recognised through the use of our strategic planning on our marketing. Wehave given ourselves a timescale of 3 years to reach our objectives. We plan on attaining additionalrecognition by working with more well-known organisations such as, Microsoft. For example, TheOrb Group can promote Microsoft’s upcoming software and products.

Entry MethodsThe value chain is an approach to investigating the internal analysis of an organisation. The framework was developed (Porter, 1985) as a way of examining the nature and extent of the synergies, ifany, among the internal activities of a firm (West, et al., 2015). All of the internal activities of anorganisation are carried out to support its products. With the Orb organisation having over 100,000products in the promotional merchandise range, it is crucial that all internal activities support theproducts and maintain its versatility amongst clients.

After looking at the current market conditions of many countries we decided to choose the UnitedStates of America due to their ability of staying ahead of all markets, and also as we have workedwith the US before, we are aware with what to expect.

We have analysed the marketing environment and also identified the internal and externalstrengths; weaknesses; opportunities and threats and have chosen exporting to be our entrymethod. We believe that this is the most appropriate entry method as it will be beneficial due to fastentry and low risk. This as a result simplifies the entry method.

Exporting is the sale of products and services in foreign countries that are sourced from the homecountry. (saylordotorg.github, n.d.)

Organisations must establish a method in distributing their products and also marketing themwithin the chosen country. This will allow the organisation to avoid costs of producing operations ina new market and country. The disadvantage of choosing export as an entry method is that theorganisation will not have a vast amount of control and not much local knowledge. On anenvironmental point of view, the transportation aspect can also have a negative impact on theenvironment along with the transportation costs.

See Appendix B for S.W.O.T. Analysis

Communication channelsThe Orb organisation have decided to utilise many methods within our communication channels, themethods we propose to use are; email; social media; e-commerce and digital marketing.

Email is an efficient method in receiving information worldwide. It is cost effective and emailmarketing is vital in creating and building consumer relationships. This direct communicatingmethod will be appropriate for the Orb Group to utilise.Using social media is a clever platform in making yourself globally aware as an organisation. This iswhy the Orb Group have decided to utilise this digital marketing method in order to make theirinternational expansion aware and gain more prestigious clients.

As the transport when exporting goods will be costly, it is important for an organisation to carry outcost effective communication channels. Electronic commerce will be highly beneficial to the OrbGroup due to finding that this method will decrease costs, this is due to using direct onlineadvertising will create low human resources costs. The global availability that electronic commerceprovides makes it crucial to utilise as it will allow you to gain consumers and clients worldwide.

Marketing Intelligence

Marketing intelligence is factual information which is used to examine current market situations,competitors and consumer demographic behaviour (Lapido Patric, et al., 2017)Marketingintelligence is made up of seven vital factors; customers; sales force; government resources;Internet; suppliers; customer advisory panel; retailers and distributors. Using this model will enableus to establish a true picture of the goings on in the USA market (See Appendix B)

Pricing StrategyIn (Tanya Sammut-Bonnici, 2015) states that pricing strategy is the procedure a firmimplements to regulate what the firm will charge for its products and services. Thesestrategic plans falls largely into the three groupings which are cost-based pricing,competition-based pricing, and value-based pricing. Pricing strategy is an important variablein financial modelling, which determines what the company revenues has been achieved,the profits earned, and the amounts reinvested in the firm's growth for its long-termsurvival.The Orb Group deciding on a pricing strategy should not be done alone but has to be inrelation to their evolving business strategy to the next level which with the Orb Groupwanting to expand internationally. The firm has to be clear about what their pricing onobjectives are and how they link in with their marketing and sales plans. As follows

 Increasing sales volume and or sales revenue

 Increasing market share  Achieving a specific rate of return on sales or investment  Maintaining or improving growth  Gaining a competitive advantage  Enhancing the image of the business, product, or service  Survival in a challenging market place.Once the Orb Group are clear about their pricing objectives the next step is to decide on thebest strategy to achieve them. Taking everything into consideration we recommend that theconsider using value-based pricing.Many literature theorists across all industries have concluded that value-based pricing is theoptimum pricing strategies especially when the firm main objective is profit maximisation.(Hinterhuber, 2008). Value-based pricing mainly emphases on examining what the productis worth to consumers and a firm sets the price accordingly. The aim of this type of pricingstrategy is avoid charging too little and so missing out on crucial revenue while not setting aprice where by it is higher than what the customer sees value and their willingness to pay.The aim of this strategy is to identify the benefits the firm offer the consumer to understandand value them. While this is an excellent strategy for Orb Group they need to review thecompetitive environment of the industry as it is particularly important to distinguish thefirm’s products by demonstrating the uniqueness of their products. The more the Orb Groupcan enhance the exclusivity and the uniqueness of their products the easier it will be forthem to either increase or demand for higher price. The Orb Group choosing the value-based as their pricing strategy there are a few drawbacks they need to look at. The maindisadvantage is that they need to have the correct information when doing their marketresearch. The research information on what consumers are willing to pay can be gatheredfrom customer surveys, monitoring competitors’ pricing strategies, or simply through trialand error.This is further confirmed by (Hünerberg, 2003) that companies that implemented value-based pricing strategy earned 31% higher in operating income than the use of competitorsbased pricing strategy. The explanation to this success is that fact that prices stemmed fromvalue-based pricing depend customer perceived values requirements instead of therequirements coming from the supplier.Customers will not feel neglected in the process of pricing the product and may accept tobuy a somewhat more expensive product if it delivers higher customer perceived value(Hinterhuber, 2004). The Orb Group needs to take geographical pricing into account asvariations in price in different parts of the world. For example, shipping costs can potentiallyincrease prices. In some countries the co-operate tax rate differs on certain types of productwhich makes them more or less expensive e.g. in the UK tax rate is 19% compare to the USAwhich is 35% (Trading-Economics, 2017).With the Orb Group being a SME company and is making plans to expand into theinternational market. Using the form of Penetration pricing as a strategy in conjunction withvalue-based pricing is the optimum strategy they can adopt. This is because penetrationpricing is a form of strategy that involves temporarily setting prices low than the cost price(Sammut-Bonnici, 2015). This is to maximise rapid market entry new markets or evenmarket entry of new products into existing markets. This method of pricing strategy cangreatly benefit The Orb Group as they make plans to expand internationally. This will enablethe company to gain customers to sustain in the market. This can affect the turnover innegative manner however, this is only temporary issue as in the long run Orb Group willcreate a strong customer base which in turn will generate income from its stocks, orgenerating revenue.When Orb Group has been established in that new market it discourage competitors to alsoenter that market this is because they cannot match companies with the lower priceThe company can run into difficulties when adopting the penetration pricing strategy, whilea low pricing can produce demand for their products, however the company must be able toprovide for this huge demand if not then there will be an issue of disgruntle customers. Asthe Orb Group offers products for the prestigious market the loss of demand can create aloss of brand equity. The Orb Group needs to keep in mind that when the company start ofusing a low price start up (penetrating price) there’s a possibility of diluting the brands beststrategy. A consumer who buys their products will feel that their social status has beenminimised (Spann, et al., 2015).The Orb Group also needs to consider Price elasticity of demand as it is one of the mostimportant elements to be considered when setting prices, It measures the quantity of aproduct or service demanded responds to any changes in price. There are some factors thataffect PED are such as:• The availability of a suitable substitute• Whether or not the product or service is regarded as a necessity• The percentage of income or budget the price represents• The loyalty strength that clients have for the brand• The duration of the price change

Distribution channelGenerally, distribution channel is all the activities that enable the transfer of material and/oreconomic power over tangible and/or intangible goods from one economic subject toanother and it delivers a well through direct channel. This will be the best distributionchannel as there are no intermediaries. (Szopa P., 2012) stated that all information’sexchanges including orders between the Orb Group and their clients will be through mail,phone, catalogues and their e-commerce website. Direct channel can provide a reliablesupply and at a cost effective price and it can be extremely convenient by saving physicalshop facilities. However they are prone to problems of availability, speedy supply, andthere could be difficulty in providing good service and support. It gross simplification, buton, the whole the direct channel is the best when the strategy is cost focus for niche marketthe Orb Group (West, et al., 2015). We recommend that Orb Group considers using valueadded reseller (VAR) as it works with end-users to provide solutions that are unique to theclient and also helps businesses reach places where direct channel could not (Marketing-Mo, 2014). With VAR, the Orb Group will build a relationship with each individual VAR andtreat that VAR as a potential customer who buys from them in various quantities on anongoing or one off basis. As Orb Group is an expert in their industry and work intently withtheir clients to create the right products for their promotion purposes, VAR will allow thefirm to build a strong customer base over many years.Product Portfolio Strategy

marketing activity, and product strategy decisions by providing an overall picture in bothcurrent and future market positions of all products and services an organisation provides(DOORASAMY, 2015). The Orb Group should offer an inseparable type of services wherebythey are in constant interactions with the client they are working with. The need to find outexactly what the client is looking for so that in the end they are content with the service andthe product the Orb Group designed together. In doing so, this will create a niche productfor each client seeking their services as there will be uniqueness in each product. Productportfolio strategy analysis is crucial and it is important to do this on a regular basis andthorough portfolio analysis helps a firm:• Maximize the value of products: Different products contribute to your company’s bottomline differently. Making sure that products will survive a company short term and long termgoals. • It helps Identify the optimal product mix: A portfolio that crosses multiple market sectors,product categories, and technologies helps protects your company against marketplacechanges. Investing the returns from current products into longer-term products helpsstabilize your company’s returns over time. Established, low-risk products help balance outthe riskier ones.There are several tools to use to analyse The Org Group product portfolio, however since wehave come to a decision that the Orb Group is to provide niche products we recommendusing the Boston Consultant Growth to analyse the Orb Group product portfolio and alsothe Ansoff matrix. The Ansoff matrix is a tool that investigates the relationship between newand existing products, new and existing markets, and all the risk associated. As the OrbGroup looking into expand to new markets Ansoff matrix is the model to use. On the grid ofAnsoff matrix the orb group will be placed at the market development as they already haveproducts in place however they are looking into expanding internationally. This is wherenew pricing strategy will be used to attract new customers and also new distributionchannels will be created.

ConclusionThis report will discuss the Orb Group’s long term objectives, which include global expansion andrecognition. As an organisation we have achieved vast success as we are the largest promotionalmerchandise distributor in Scotland. However, we come to a decision of expansion, and we aregoing to expand into the United States of America. We found this fitting as the US is a dominatingcountry with a lot of power. This as a result will be beneficial to us as an organisation as we willbecome globally recognised through the use of our strategic planning on our marketing. We havegiven ourselves a timescale of 3 years to reach our objectives. We plan on attaining additionalrecognition by working with more well-known organisations such as, Microsoft. For example, TheOrb Group can promote Microsoft’s upcoming software and products.Appendix AP.E.S.T. Factors as to why we came to a conclusion to expand into US market

Political

The United States has a strong democratic set up and effective rule of law, there elections areconsidered fair and transparent. The United States are recognised as the leading superpower in theworld.

SMG (Sports merchandise Global) have had experience with the US market.

A language barrier does not exist.

Economical

The United States is the largest economy in the world. The economic system is well developed andgathers its strengths from its services and manufacturing industries.

Social

The education and healthcare system is one of the best in the world. However, increasing illegalimmigration is a concern as there are more than 11.7 million people currently living illegally in theUnited States. (Preston, 2017).

Technological

I.T. is a field that the United States are exceling in. However, they face intense competition fromcountries like China and India.Appendix B

S.W.O.T. Analysis on The Orb Group

Strengths Weaknesses

 Strong market position  Small organisation which can make it

 Large range of products to suit difficult to work with big organisations all clients (100,000)  Changes in exchange rates  Previous experience with international markets